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From Father Andrew Bahhi: The Unforgivable Sin

July 15, 2018

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And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Satan! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

It reminds me of an old man at a church where I served. It was after the first Sunday of the Lent, and we were reciting the prayer of forgiveness – to ask each other’s forgiveness so we can begin Lent with a pure heart. I asked everyone to line up and pray for forgiveness, and the old man cried “Please forgive me” so much, and we were surprised why he was crying so much. The second day, the man passed away. I was sad and so happy – that man got the forgiveness he needed at the end. That will determine our eternity.

I did not know anything about the life that the old man lived. All I know is that before he died, that old man allowed the Holy Spirit to touch his heart with a spirit of repentance.

When we talk of repentance, we have to understand that the repentance will never come if there is no Holy Spirit to drive all of us to repent with a broken heart. Anything that one of us has done will be forgiven, except the blasphemies or sins we do against the Holy Spirit. Not only in this life, but the eternal life.

People ask, what is the unforgivable sin – what is it and how can we avoid it?

It is when you have consciously and completely the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to take us to the cross, and when we reject that, we commit the sin that will never be forgiven. The only unforgiven sin is to not admit that we had committed a sin and seek repentance, or we reject the rule of the Holy Spirit in our lives, rejecting being taken to the cross to believe in Jesus Christ as a savior.

From the Bible, we see another meaning of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit – when Jesus cast out the demon from the possessed person. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” When we attribute evil things to God or we deny God is able to do mighty works or miracles, we commit blasphemy.

Jesus cast the demon, but the scribes and Pharisees say “oh, he must be the ruler of the demons” attributing the bad to Jesus or not believe Jesus can do the mighty works.
So you ask, “But how can I apply this in my life?” When God saves my kids every day. I was able to do good things to my kids, or I take care of my health – or when I attribute good things in my life without acknowledging that God enables me to take any breath. This is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

When we always thank God for what he is giving us, because of him, he is the one guiding us – through Jesus –we receive these good blessings.

This is the way to live your whole life. Some of you may say “Since I have a long life – I may be in my 20s, 30s, 40s, — let me put the Holy Spirit aside for now and live my life.” But you are not acknowledging that any minute you do not know what is going to happen in your life. Please dear brothers and sisters, allow the Holy Spirit to come into your life, open your heart, so you can repent and ask God to make you his son and bless your life.

Any church would be dead, not because there are no people in that church, but because those people do not open their hearts to the Holy Spirit to guide them and open a revival in their heart.

Any church whose people always ask for the power of the Holy Spirit and open their hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit, those people will not have a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.